One is an elegant hostess, willing to cook all day to make the perfect party a good thing. The other is a hurried homemaker who doesn't want to spend time or effort in the kitchen but still wants to eat good food.

Both have written dozens of cookbooks. Both have their own magazines. Both became immensely popular on television.

On the one hand, you have Martha Stewart, doyenne of entertaining and creator of the cream cheese-stuffed sugar snap pea hors d'oeuvre that was seemingly served at every single party from 1982 until about 1985.

On the other hand, you have Sandra Lee, who parlayed a decorator's interest in creating beautiful tablescapes into an empire based on the concept of "semi-homemade" cooking, which relies heavily on prepackaged foods for the sake of convenience.

Two different attitudes. Two different styles.

What would happen, we wondered, if you put them side to side? If we made the same dish as envisioned by both Martha Stewart and Sandra Lee?

So I made the same dishes from the recipes of both women.

I began with minestrone soup, which Stewart makes in the classic way, with fresh vegetables (though the beans are canned), including a potato and thin slices of cabbage, flavored with a hint of rosemary and a dash of basil. Lee's version uses just five ingredients, plus shredded parmesan for a last-minute garnish.

Lee's minestrone gets most of its flavor from the frozen pasta with vegetables, a can of Italian-seasoned tomatoes and a good hunk of tomato paste.

The tomato is so overwhelming that the minestrone seems like a tomato soup with vegetables, plus some angel-hair noodles. There is also an unpleasantly sharp taste of something, but it is possible that comes from the frozen vegetables-and-noodles that I used and that a different brand may make it more pleasant.

Stewart's minestrone tasted clean, classic and simple, despite using many more ingredients. It took considerably longer to make, though it was still less than an hour, but the convenience inherent in Lee's version also cost more.

In addition, Lee's dish registered more calories and more sodium. These are trends we will see for all of the recipes.

Next up was chicken prepared in a Greek style. Stewart's version, Roasted Chicken Thighs with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta, has a lovely presentation (I used multicolored grape tomatoes). And the taste is bright and fresh, which comes both from the natural ingredients and the garnishes -- a pop of mint and a scattering of briny feta cheese -- that are added just before serving.

Lee's Greek Chicken has the more earthy, rounder flavor that comes from spending a long time in a slow cooker.

3. Reduce to a simmer and cook until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; stir in garlic, if using, and basil. Serve sprinkled with parmesan and, if using, torn basil. Drizzle with more oil, if desired.

In a large pot, bring broth to a boil. Stir in garlic pasta with vegetables, beans, tomatoes and tomato paste. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. Ladle soup into 6 soup bowls and sprinkle with plenty of cheese. Serve with bread.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine chicken, oil, tomatoes, olives, shallots and thyme in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and toss. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and spread chicken mixture, skin-side up, in a single layer. Roast until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thighs (do not touch bones) reaches 165 degrees, 35 to 40 minutes.

2. Transfer chicken to a platter and loosely cover with foil. Return vegetables to oven and roast until golden brown in places, about 10 minutes more. Transfer vegetables and accumulated juices to platter with chicken, and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with mint and feta.

Season chicken with salt and Greek seasoning. Place onions in slow cooker, then top with chicken. In a bowl, stir together soup, tomatoes and olives and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Stir in lemon juice. Serve hot over hot cooked rice.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 12-cup bundt ban. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, water, eggs and oil in a large bowl. Beat for 2 minutes or until well-blended. Stir in 1/2 cup of the chocolate morsels. Transfer batter to prepared bundt pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on cooling rack for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto cooling rack. Place cooling rack on top of cookie sheet. Cool cake completely.

2. Heat cream in small saucepan over low heat until small bubbles appear. Remove from the heat. Add the 12 ounces of chocolate morsels to cream and stir until smooth. Cool ganache until just slightly warm. Pour ganache over cooled cake, coating cake completely. Transfer cake to serving platter. Garnish with additional chocolate morsels, if desired.

1. Make the cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 14-cup Bundt pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Mix milk and sour cream in a glass measuring cup.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat 8 ounces of the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture, beat to combine; add the milk mixture, beat to combine; and add the remaining 1/2 of the flour mixture, beating just to combine.

3. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 50 to 55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Make the glaze: Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan; pour over chocolate and let stand 2 minutes. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter, and mix until smooth. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. Pour glaze over cake.